Pune's famous Burger King wins 13-year legal battle against US restaurant giant

If you are from Pune and love burgers, you might be familiar with the iconic Burger King outlets in Camp and Koregaon Park. Although the name of this famous burger restaurant is the same as that of the fast food giant Burger King Corporation, the companies are not the same. Due to confusion and a lawsuit filed by the global giant, Pune's famous Burger King had to change its name to Burger. However, the company eventually emerged victorious from a long legal battle and can officially retain its name after a very long time.

Pune-based Burger King wins 13-year-long trademark battle against Burger King Corporation

The legal battle between Pune-based Burger King and the giant Burger King Corporation lasted for 13 long years and ended with a victory for the legendary Pune-based Burger King on August 16. In 2011, Burger King Corporation filed a lawsuit against Pune-based Burger King owners Anahita and Shapoor Irani for trademark infringement.

They filed the suit claiming that the owners had infringed the company's trademark. In fact, the giant asked the local burger maker to pay damages, according to a report by NDTV Profit. Recently, a commercial court in the city dismissed the giant's trademark infringement suit.

According to a report by Livemint, District Magistrate Sunil Vedpathak spoke in favor of the local restaurant, stating that it was already in existence in Pune before the American company set up shop in the city. They are using the name and brand before the fast-food company registered its trademark in India. In our country, the company registered its trademark in 1989.

Also read: 'Burger King, this is not acceptable,' says Mumbai woman as she finds dead insect in her burger; netizens horrified

A huge victory!

The judge noted that the US food giant had not used its trademark in India for nearly three decades, while the local restaurant had used its own trademark during that period and continued to operate in all its outlets.

The confusion, a 13-year legal battle and all the arguments ended with a victory for Burger King. The famous brand got its original name back and can now use it in its stores.

Also read: After McDonald's, Burger King now also wants to remove tomatoes from its burgers and wraps!

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Cover image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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